Vehicle seats are often mounted within a vehicle cabin by securing the seat to the vehicle floor. The mounting structure of the seat may be secured to the floor of the vehicle using bolts, fasteners, or other known affixing means. The manner in which the seat mounting structure is secured to the vehicle must be resilient enough to keep the seat stationary in the event of a collision. As such, brackets used in mounting vehicle seats must be able to endure a significant load.
Many vehicles also contain seats where the bottom cushion may be moved into a storage position. These seats are commonly referred to as “flip-up seats.” A primary goal of flip-up seats is to increase the utility or accessibility of the vehicle by providing access to the portion of the vehicle floor normally covered by the bottom cushion. Accordingly, the seat mounting structure and brackets used to secure the seat to the vehicle floor must be designed to endure the regular wear and tear of a vehicle cargo floor. Furthermore, to maximize the utility of the vehicle floor, the brackets should be as unobtrusive as possible and prevent objects placed on the cargo floor from becoming snagged or damaged by the mounting bolts.
Vehicle floors are often finished with a carpet or other floor covering. The carpet is generally cut around the support rail to allow the seat mounting structure to be affixed directly to the support rail. Accordingly, it would be aesthetically beneficial for the bracket to close out the cut carpet around the support rail. In this way, the bracket could serve as a finish trim piece in addition to its other functional capabilities.